posted on July 5, 2000 03:05:23 PM new
I created a second id today.
I did this because more and more often when I am shopping other seller's auctions, I am running into folks with 10 and 12 pages of listings and I observed a couple of things.
First, that I was not willing to scan 12 pages of one seller's offerings (in spite of having fast access). Secondly, the main reason why was that if I was interested in "apples" I had to scan 3 or 4 or more pages of oranges and pears in the hope I might see another apple to buy.
1 month ago I only had one page of auctions going anyway, but now have 4. I tried to address these issues for the buyer by taking care to list like items near each other, but when I realized that I'm destined to have 10 or 12 or more pages, I gave up and created a new id.
I plan to divide the listings between id's in the most logical way I can, understanding that eventually I may have to split again. Bottom line, I have decided that it will hinder my business to have 300 listings. Seems like more exposure, but if you have an apple buyer who gives out 2 pages before he loads your next bushel of apples - well then you lose.
I am wondering other seller's impressions on this situation.
posted on July 5, 2000 03:59:05 PM new
VeryModern, I agree with you 100%! I've thought of that myself for if I ever have very many listings at one time. I don't know how many times I've gone to look at a seller's other auctions to see if there might be something else I'm interested in and give out after the second page or so. Looking through that many listings at one time is too overwhelming.
One thing, though, I found that helps is the ctrl-F search. But, this only works if you know exactly what you're looking for--just browsing through five or six pages is way too time-consuming and cumbersome.
posted on July 5, 2000 06:32:26 PM new
Thanks for the feedback wallypog. Now I know if it is me and you who won't slog through 10 pages, there are a zillion others out there.
posted on July 5, 2000 07:38:54 PM new
I might create another id. I am starting to sell items that have no relation to another & if I have about 7-10 pages, someone who is buying e.g videos have no interest in 'Basket Weaving' books. I know several people who list over 1000 items & they have pages after pages of stuff I've no interest in. Tired of looking for that needle in a haystack ya know.
posted on July 5, 2000 08:52:40 PM new
VeryModern: I think that the idea you described is EXCELLENT, anything that assists the customer in easily placing a bid or completing an order, is a movement in the right direction. It's really hard to browse through pages & pages of listings.
posted on July 6, 2000 07:23:03 AM new
Very Modern - Where are you going? I don't post all that often but I do read lots and enjoy your posts. I must've missed what happened but please don't leave. This Yahoo board is becoming more active and full of great ideas and yours are part of that. Good luck to you if you do leave.
posted on July 6, 2000 07:30:36 AM new
I have never considered this as I don't see any major following on Yahoo. Also, I see it doubles or triples bookkeeping, although I can see the reasons you have considered it.
I don't really think folks read through one single posters ads very often, even devoted followers of the seller.
Since we post such a vast variety of categories on Yahoo, we'd have to establish 8 or more identities and that would be more bookkeeping than I can handle.
My son (38 years old) runs about 1,000 auctions on Yahoo, and runs them all in one category....I will discuss this with him, but I think we both have the feeling that most folks use search, not personal listings to find items of interest.
At this point I can't see how a seller of a variety of items could easily divide them in to only 2 or 3 categories. Plus you loose the relationship to all your original feedback, and customer recognition of your original ID.
posted on July 7, 2000 01:21:40 AM new
Besides starting over with zero feedback on a new ID, you'd have to SIGN IN on Yahoo under EACH identity to manage your auctions (list, edit, cancel bids, close, resubmit), email buyers, blacklist bidders, and leave feedback.
That would COMPLICATE things so much for me, require separate "sales" sheets for each ID, and take so much EXTRA TIME, I don't think it would be worth it.
If you combine purchases for reduced shipping and your buyer is REALLY interested, he'll look through all your other listings to see if he wants anything else. If you have multiple identities, he won't BE ABLE to see all your listings without looking up the auctions for EACH of your IDs, which I don't think anyone will do.
posted on July 12, 2000 12:33:04 AM new
I agree with you on this one, granee. And just to let you all know- I read through 7 (or more!) pages of 1 seller's auctions at a time, especially if I've already bid on at least one item the seller is selling. Many people have lots of interests- I do anyway- I buy stuff in lots of categories- everything from clothes to craft items to toys to books to stuff for my house. It's all fair game for me, and if I can save money on shipping in the process, well, you better believe I'm going to!
posted on July 13, 2000 11:45:55 AM new
how's everyone been?
I have 3 id's now and I am back with a report.
First thing is that there is no doubt that separating items you are selling by some sort of class will increase your sales. I have had 6 different customers bid between 2 - 19 auctions (Yes - one guy bid 19 of my auctions - 1st bid wins), this last week alone. It is clearly helping sales to make this an easy option for people.
I was concerned that it would be difficult to track but at least for the moment this has not caused a problem. I am using Yahoo addresses at all 3 id's and using Outlook Express collect all the mail, and navigating the 3 ids has been far less troublesome than I'd expected. I do have a cable hook up and can be signed on with two id's with 2 browsers so this is helpful.
Moving the auctions from ID 1 to 2 and 3 also has also been a very smooth process. I had never given much thought to the categories I sell but items very naturally found their own classification / new home and where I thought this would be hard to track, instead it is simple, possibly even simpler than 1 id since I MYSELF don't have to wade through my listings to find a "DOG" which is of course would be listed with ANIMAL id for example.
I also am linking the id's at least for now. I thought I would just do this until I established feedback with the new ones, but the more I think about it and with the kind of loyal buyer than frequents Yahoo, I may just leave them linked. From my home page "click here to shop _____ or here to shop ____, etc. Something like that.
The main negative thing I did not anticipate was that when I listed at the new id's I lost access to my feature credits from the ebay feedback. This is a bit of a drag but I got over it pretty rapidly because the by my perception - the benefits of doing this are huge. It's dawned on me that this is an enormously "customer friendly" thing to do, as the auction community continues to mature and tire of looking through pages of what is not relevant to them.
posted on July 13, 2000 06:52:18 PM new
thank you grapey.
I have to be scarce again for the weekend.
Big collectables show here this weekend and many of the local pickers will be selling their finds there.
This means that while they are stuck staffing their booths, VeryModern will be running to and fro from yard sale to yard sale virtually competitionless, and delirious with glee over the situation.
posted on July 29, 2000 11:15:00 PM new
Thanks for the update, VM! Interesting to hear your experiences! I'm glad that the strategy is working for you.
posted on August 15, 2000 06:21:36 AM new
I'll stay with the one ID - I have a number of repeat buyers now, and they know my ID, and I have built a reputation on that ID, and don't want to confuse folks with multiple ID's.
I also feel, if I found a seller running under more than one ID, as a buyer not understanding the reasoning, I'd question the reliability of the seller, and feel they were hiding something.
Any half computer savvy buyer can go to your auction listing, pull down "edit" and do a quick search for the name of item they are seeking, they don't have to read or look through all of the items to locate a given category.
ALSO, particularly during the holiday season, looking through your various items all in one place, will spark gift ideas the buyer may not have previously though of.
The only time I've ever run 2 ID's was years back on eBay when I put all my higher end items under one ID, and lower priced items under the other. I ran both for a couple of years, as I didn't see it made any difference, when I tired of the double bookkeeping, and I merged the ID's.
ALSO, I certainly feel a buyer is more likely to feel confident with a seller with a 700 feedback than a 300 feedback or a 150 feedback, depending on how many ID's you are running you are losing the impression that the total feedback gives.
[ edited by heygrape on Jul 5, 2000 10:40 PM ]
